Schoolgirl, 8, shows no Mercy in ghoulish Molly Crows horror role

She may be called Mercy, but an eight-year-old from South Wales won’t be sparing the nerves of horror fans in a spine-tingling new movie.

She may be called Mercy, but an eight-year-old from South Wales won’t be sparing the nerves of horror fans in a spine-tingling new movie.

Following in the footsteps of child horror movie legends like Linda Blair (The Exorcist) and Harvey Stephens (The Omen) comes Barry Island girl Mercy Gaiger, who has already caught the attention of iconic director Wes Craven.

Mercy’s mum, Shanea said: “She is a lovely little girl who looks like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. But when the director says ‘Action’ she turns into a hell beast!”

In her latest film, Molly Crows, Mercy plays a girl called Jessica who is sometimes possessed by the spirit of a witch called Molly Leigh.

Film director Andrew Ray Wilkes gave Mercy, a pupil at Barry Island Primary School, the role after being impressed by an online photograph of Mercy in the guise of Chucky from horror classic Child’s Play.

Shanea, who took the photographs, said: “He phoned me and asked if she could act. She had had a few parts but never anything big. She auditioned and got the part.”

A short trailer of the film on YouTube has already been viewed nearly 13,000 times and has been widely talked about on horror blogs.

The movie, some of which was filmed in Barry, is based on the true story of suspected witch Molly Leigh who died in 1746 and was buried in Burslem churchyard, near Stoke-on-Trent.

But there were claims that her ghost haunted the town. Her body was exhumed and a still-living crow that had been her lifelong companion was thrown into her coffin. She was reburied in a north to south direction, at a right angle to all the other graves in the churchyard.

Her story is still told to children today and some say her spirit will return.

In the film, Mercy’s character, Jess, is sometimes possessed by the spirit of Leigh who then exacts revenge on the residents of the town.

The film is set to be submitted to festivals next month, and it is planned to be released in the autumn. Actor George Newton, who has starred in Dead Man’s Shoes and This is England, also features in the film

Mercy said: “I like scary things. When I’m filming, I like to go behind the scenes so that I can see that none of it is real. I like to see the fun side of it. I like Doctor Who and would love to be in that.”

In fact, one of Mercy’s most popular online photographs is one in which she portrays one of the Weeping Angels, one of the sci-fi show’s scariest ever monsters.

Other photographs which have proved popular on the internet show Mercy in the role of various horror movie characters including Freddy Krueger, Saw puppet Billy, and various zombies.

Mercy’s talent for spooking people became apparent when she went “trick-or-treating” at Halloween as a toddler.

She went on to play a zombie-killing superhero in a music video made in Plymouth when she was just six.

She said: “I then won an online competition run by Wes Craven for Best Costume, which was my Weeping Angel picture.”

Shenea added: “She has an interest in things that scare her. She enjoys playing roles in horror films because she can see that it is not real.

“She doesn’t like blood, but she does like scary things. Of course, she is too young to have ever seen a horror film.”

Mercy, whose favourite actor is Johnny Depp and favourite film is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, said filming was “really fun.”

Mercy, who attends acting lessons at The Workshop, in Cardiff, is currently filming a short movie called Stray, which is being filmed in Newport.

She said: “I don’t play a scary character in that. I’m an innocent girl called Rosie.” But in a ghoulish twist she adds her character is “trying to survive as the world comes to an end.”

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